1.4.1-Theonlycheeseleft
Brick!Club 1.4.1: One Mother Meets Another Hey hey, Brick!Club, I’m a day behind, as usual, but seeing as 1.4.2 doesn’t have a whole lot to say, I’m not too concerned about it. So I actually think this chapter is pretty fantastic? I mean, heartbreaking and not without it’s problematic moments (because, Hugo), but there is a lot I like here. I’m a big fan of the long, dramatic description of the cart and chain, and I love the way Hugo sets up exactly how we’re supposed to feel about Madame Thenardier with this line: A mother had caught sight of that frightful chain, and had said, “Come! There’s a plaything for my children.” Even though Madame Thenardier is painted in an (arguably) more sympathetic light in this chapter than, probably, ever again in the book, this line right here tells us everything we need to know. She loves her children “with that animal and celestial expression which is peculiar to maternity” (which, what even, Hugo?), but Hugo does make the distinction that even though there are some things all mothers share, those things do not automatically make you a good mother. And oh, the description of Eponine and Azelma, hold me, Brick!club. It hurts because you can see how happy they could’ve been, in the right circumstances. This little glimpse of the three children playing together, you can see how easily things could’ve been different, how Cosette and Eponine could’ve grown up being friends (without the Thenardier’s influence), how Eponine could’ve been spared a lifetime of isolation and Cosette a childhood full of hurt. (Also, good to see that Hugo is still obsessed with teeth.) This is particularly heartbreaking to me, as well: Fantine had immediately lost sight of Favourite, Zephine, and Dahlia; the bond once broken on the side of the men, it was loosed between the women; they would have been greatly astonished had anyone told them a fortnight later, that they had been friends; there no longer existed any reason for such thing. Which, I’m not quite sure whether or not to read that as “none of the girls are friends anymore” or “Fantine is no longer friends with Favourite, Zephine, and Dahlia.” The line after this (“Fantine had been left alone”) makes me think that Favourite and Zephine and Dahlia had only been friends with Fantine because of the men, but remained friends with each other after the men had gone. I like that reading because, otherwise, it seems as if Hugo is saying “none of the ladies are friends because there are no men around to make them friends,” which, no Hugo, no. Stahp. So Fantine tells Madame Thenardier that her husband has died. Has there been any speculation on why Fantine does not just tell her employers the same, rather than leaving Cosette behind? There has to be another excuse besides “People are ridiculous in the country,” right? And how on earth did Fantine not get some major warning signals by Thenardier pretty much popping his head around the corner and yelling out sums of money, when he had been basically non-existent during the rest of the conversation? It speaks to her absolute desperation, I guess, but it also makes Fantine seem ridiculously naive. Perhaps if we had seen a bit of Fantine’s desperation before her arrival at the inn (or cookhouse, as Hapgood calls it), it wouldn’t seem so pronounced? Although, I can’t remember if we get any chapters detailing Fantine’s search for work with Cosette in tow? Also, FAREWELL FOREVER M. FELIX THOLOMYES. You’re tacky and I hate you. Commentary Doeskin-pantaloons I find the reactions we’re having to the chain-swing fascinating. I’ve read a lot of people saying that the fact that Madame Thenadier decides to use the monster chain as a swing for her toddlers just shows what a bad person/mother she is. I thought it was quite resourceful of her, honestly, to see this horrible thing, and rather than going, “Dammit, who filled my street up with this?” she thinks, “Well, my kids could have fun with that!” (Which, incidentally, they do.) I don’t quite understand why her using the chain as a swing is seen as so horrific. I thought it was showing the way that people who don’t necessarily have all the things are still adapting what is around to do positive things for their kids, rather than that Madame Thenadier is just an evil person who subjects her children to horrors without thinking it’s bad. Theonlycheeseleft (reply to Doeskin-pantaloons) I do very much see where this reading comes from! The chapter’s already complex in that it portrays Madame Thenardier in a fairly sympathetic light, so I do like the idea that she can be resourceful in times of trouble, that she’s always on the lookout for ways to make her children happy. I guess my hesitation with the chain swing comes from the adjectives that Hugo uses to describe it: “massive,” “overwhelming,” “misshapen,” “the gun carriage of an enormous cannon,” “hideous,” “worthy of some Goliath of a convict,” “detached from some monster.” There’s such an sense of foreboding and danger around it, it’s hard to look at the chain-swing as anything but this shadowy, ominous presence. It’s less about Madame Thenardier at this point and more about “WHY ARE THERE CHILDREN ON THIS POTENTIALLY TETANUS RIDDEN MONSTROSITY?” I guess I couldn’t read the “Come! There’s a plaything for my children!” line as anything but the authorial judgment Hugo seems to be setting us up for. But alternative readings, hooray! Doeskin-pantaloons (reply to Theonlycheeseleft's reply) The thing is though, I honestly don’t think Hugo is setting up this judgement for us. I think that in showing us how evil the chain is, and how Madame Thenardier could have just gone, “Ugh, how evil. Let’s not touch that,” he’s emphasising the resourcefulness in finding something useful to do with it. Also, I don’t really think kids playing on a chain would have had the same “OMG TETANUS!” reaction then as now. There was probably a lot less concern for keeping your children spotlessly clean, and you know, you can only go so far to stop someone dying of nineteenth century. I especially think that Hugo is trying to show this in a positive light because the kids are having so much fun. Nobody gets hurt, the foreshadowing of the giant chain never goes anywhere (beyond symbolising how society will crush your beautiful soul), and surely if he wanted to show what a bad mother Madame Thenardier was, he would have had someone - either Fantine or one of the kids - freak out about the chain swing a bit? Lovethefutureisthine (reply to Theonlycheeseleft's reply) Hmm perhaps the swing is described as so monstrous because it is Mme T. She is monstrous and scary but she does have kindness for her children. I’m unsure of why Hugo would make the decision to compare them in that way, but that’s sort of the subliminal image I have always gotten from the scene and didn’t realize it until now. Theonlycheeseleft (reply to Lovethefutureisthine's reply) Hmmm, yes, I’ve never thought of it that way either, but that actually makes a lot of sense? Because ~Hugo symbolism~, right? It sneaks in everywhere! (Or hits you over the head with a blunt instrument. Either way.)